8 - Friday, February 18, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandoily.com-
'M' looks for pair of home wins
in pivotal series against Broncos
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Wolverines face
Badgers on road
By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Editor
The No. 11 Michigan hockey
team will look to punch two
tickets this weekend against
Western Michigan - one to the
NCAA tourna-
ment and one
back to Yost. Western
But in what Michigan at
Michigan coach
Red Beren- Michigan
son described Matchup:
as a playoff Western
atmosphere in Michigan
the Wolver- 15-7-10; Michi-
ines' final four gan19-9-4
games, they When: Friday
shouldn't have 7:35 P.M.
to worry about Where: Yost
actually coming Ice Arena
to blows. TV/Radio:
Two weeks Comcast
ago in a pen-
alty filled series Live Blog:
against then- www.michi-
No. 13 Miami gandaily.com
(Ohio), the
teams played
nearly a full game with at least
one player in the penalty box.
Last week against Ohio State,
Michigan was forced to kill off a
penalty - including a five minute
major on Saturday in the third
period of both games to preserve
two straight one-goal leads.
But this weekend, in the
second-to-last regular season
series for Michigan, Yost Ice
Arena should see plenty of even-
strength hockey. The Wolverines
and the Broncos are just 31st and
48th in the nation in penalty min-
utes, respectively.
"I think that's what it's going
to come down to," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said after
practice Thursday. "It's a five-
on-five game. Now, you never
know, sometimes you think it's
going to be one way and it's not,
so you don't plan any different ...
That's a strong partof our game. I
can't tell you we're dominating in
that area, but 1 think that's been
what's keepingus on the winning
side."
After finishing last in the
conference a season ago, the
Broncos have taken to first-year
Pair of undersized,
defensively stout
teams battle for third
place in Big Ten
By KEVIN RAFTERY
Daily Sports Writer
Before the Michigan wom-
en's basketball team's game at
Wisconsin this
Saturday, the Michigan at
Wolverines
might want to Wisconsin
take a look in Matchup:
the mirror - Michigan
that might be 17-7; Wis-
all that it takes consin 17-9
to scout the When: Satur
Badgers. day 1:30 P.M.
The similar- Where: Kohl
ities between Center
the two teams,
from team TV/Radio:
records to BTN
players to sta-
tistics, are hard to miss.
With a win, Michigan (8-5
Big Ten, 15-10 overall) would be
tied for third with Wisconsin in
the Big Ten.
The Badgers (9-4, 14-11), who
are coming off of a 59-44 loss
to Iowa, have struggled on the
boards all year - they rank last
in the Big Ten in rebounds per.
game (29.9). Michigan is right
there with them, less than half a
rebound per game ahead.
Part of the reason for both
teams' lack of efficiency on the
glass is their size. Both teams
feature only two players over
the height of 6-foot-2.
But Wisconsin's 6-foot-4
senior forward Lin Zastrow
makes her presence felt in the
post.
"(Zastrow) is good on both
sides of the ball," Michigan
coach Kevin Borseth said after
Michigan's 75-59 victory over
Wisconsin on Jan. 16. "I'll tell
you what, she is as good of a
big kid in this conference. She
scores on people, and she's hard
to score on."
The Wolverines held Zas-
trow, who averages 14 points
per contest, to just nine points
in the first matchup between
the two teams.
That success was due in
part to Michigan's tough post
defense by 6-foot-1 sophomore
forward Rachel Sheffer, along
with 6-foot-4 bench players
Sam Arnold and Kate Thomp-
son.
But where both teams lack
in size, they make up for with
team defense.
The Badgers lead the Big Ten
in scoring defense, allowing just
56.5 points per game, and the
Wolverines aren't far behind in
third place (62.6).
"They are very good defen-
sively," Borseth said. "They are
just an absolute lock you down,
don'tletyouscore type of team."
And each team is at the top
of the conference standings in
turnover margins.
The Wolverines, who lead
the conference with a plus-3.15
average, are just .07 turnovers
ahead of the second-place Bad-
gers.
But Michigan holds the edge
in offensive production - from
both its starters and its bench
players. That very well could
be the Wolverines' key to win-
ning this game - Wisconsin is
second-to-last in the conference
in offensive production, and the
Badger bench has been nearly
non-existent as of late.
Another key factor is the sta-
tus of Wisconsin senior forward
Tara Steinbauer - the team's
third-leading scorer - who left
in the first half of Wednesday's
loss to Iowa with a leg injury.
Yesterday, the team confirmed
that she tore the ACL in her
right knee and will miss the
remainder of the season.
But regardless of the similar-
ities between these two squads,
the Wolverines know what is at
stake with just three Big Ten
games remaining.
"We have momentum right
now," junior guard Carmen
Reynolds said after Michigan's
win over Indiana on Wednes-
day. "Hopefully, we will get the
next three wins and ... get a bid
into the NCAA tournament."
I
I
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick will need his team to play consistently sound defense against Western Michigan.
jhead coach Jeff Blashill's defen-
sive style and benefited from
hot goaltending from both Jerry
Kuhn and Nick Pisellini to vault
into fourth place in the con-
ference - eight points behind
Michigan.
"It's going to be a dogfight,"
senior defenseman Chad Langlais
said. "There's going to be battles
all over the ice. They're a frus-
trating team defensively and we
are too. So it's going to be a tough
weekend."
Both teams are in the top 10
nationally in goals against and
both are fighting for an at-large
bid.
Michigan's first ticket is for
admission to the tournament on
Selection Sunday. The selection
committee relies heavily on the
PairWise Rankings to select the
16-team field. The Wolverines are
currently on the right side of the
NCAA Tournament bubble, tied
for ninth in the PairWise rank-
ings.
Western Michigan (9-6-9-5
CCHA, 15-7-10 overall) is in a
much more uneasy position, tied
for 15th. With both teams fight-
ing for at-large consideration, a
sweep either way will likely put
the loser on the outside looking
in.
Defensive-minded hockey in a
loser-goes-home series? This isn't
a playoff dress rehearsal, this is
the matinee.
"Every weekend we're playing
in big games," Berenson said. "It
doesn't matter who we're play-
ing now. It's how we're playing.
It matters in that it will make
our team even more aware that
Western's a good team now.
They're not coming in a last place
team any more. They could finish
ahead of us."
Michigan's other ticket is sim-
ply to nowhere. The Wolverines
(16-7-10,19-9-4) are just one point
away from ensuring themselves
the home-ice advantage in the
second round of the CCHA play-
offs. They have already guaran-
teed themselves a first-round bye.
"You want to finish as high
as you can and you want to have
home ice in the playoffs," Beren-
son said. "That's huge. That's one
of our goals. That's not the only
goal."
The final goal is obviously
the national championship. But
reaching the Frozen Four in St.
Paul may hinge on this weekend
at Yost. With two losses, the only
way into the Xcel Energy Center
for April's Frozen Four would
probably be to buy a ticket.
Check out Quick Hitswith Carl
Hagelin on MichiganDaily.com
As regular season winds down, Blue gets flashy
By ZAK PYZIK ebration and big plays, and they
Daily Sports Editor certainly capitalized on them.
It's something that Beilein nor-
Michigan men's basketball mally doesn't encourage, but that
coach John Beilein has never he's more open to if the Wolver-
been a fan of flashy plays. ines capitalize.
But even Beilein had a smile on "Now we're throwing oops
his face after sophomore guard out there," Hardaway Jr. said.
Darius Morris threw an alley- "We haven't even done that all
oop to roommate Jordan Mor- year. We got an oop in practice
gan at the end of the Wolverines' (the day before Northwestern).
75-66 win against Northwestern (Juniorguard Zack Novak) threw
last Wednesday. me and oop and coach was like,
The entire bench jumped out 'Yeah, okay, I guess if it's there
of its seats and redshirt freshman it's there.' But he doesn't like us
Blake McLimans held most of the throwing oops anyway because
team back with his long arms. it's a 50-50 play. (Morris) just saw
But McLimans's length wasn't it, made a terrific play and (Mor-
enough to keep Morgan from gan) threw it down."
grunting after the play, Mor- The breathtaking alley-oop
ris from yelling toward the fans wasn't the only sign that Michi-
and freshman Tim Hardaway Jr. gan has become a flashier team.
from pounding his chest. Morris has also thrown behind-
"We were all biting our nails the-back passes through defend-
when (Morris) threw that oop to ers, as he did to Novak in the
(Morgan)," junior guard Corey Wolverines' loss to Illinois on
Person said. "We wanted the Wednesday in the opening min-
oop, but we also want them to utes.
complete the plays. Coach says And all season, Morgan and
we can take 50-50 shots but not Hardaway Jr. have tried to dunk
50-50 passes. That was a 50-50 or celebrate whenever they get
pass." the opportunity.
Morgan's thunderous dunk After Michigan topped Penn
was only the pinnacle of a festive State on the road, Morgan
afternoon for Michigan. Morgan, explained how dunking is just
Morris and Hardaway Jr. had something that can get a team
plenty of opportunities for cel- fired up.
For coverage of Saturday's Iowa
game, go to MichiganDaily.com
"It's just something we like
to do," Morris said. "(Hardaway
Jr.) was kidding around with me
the other day and said, 'Man,
we need another Fab Five,' and
I was just like, 'Tim, Tim. You
know those guys are great. Tim,
you need to chill.' Maybe it's just
the black shoes and the black
socks, I don't know what it is.
That's just our game and my per-
sonality rubs off on them so- we
do it."
The buck doesn't stop there.
Post-play celebrations are a must
for the three underclassmen.
After Hardaway Jr. hits 3-point-
ers - especially when games are
close - he flashes different sym-
bols with his hands when he gets
back on defense.
Sometimes he just holds up
three fingers to remind everyone
that he hit a 3-pointer, and other
times he makes horns out of his
hands and puts his head down
like a bull. In fact, Hardaway Jr.
doesn't know what he does. He
just does it.
"I love when Tim gets into it,"
Morris said. "I do the same thing
so I love to see it when my team-
mates get into it and get involved
and get pumped up. It makes me
0
JAKE FR OMM/Dsily
Redshirt freshman Jordan Morgan dunks ina game against Penn State on Feb. 6. Michigan won, 65-62.
get pumped up so I want to get from Shaq. He says he doesn't do on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye
back and play some defense. He it, but he does." Arena. The Wolverines last beat
doesn't even know what he does. Michigan will get its next the Hawkeyes in Ann Arbor,
He probably copies his things chance to be flashy against Iowa 87-73 on Jan. 30.
CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE GAMES THIS WEEKEND?
Follow our men's basketball and hockey live blogs. And follow us on Twitter @michdailysports.
MEN'S BASKETBALL @ IOWA, SATURDAY AT 3:30 P.M.
HOCKEY VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 7:35 P.M.